Is it possible to install iOS 6 SDK on Xcode 5?

up vote 122 down vote favorite 75

Xcode 5 has a preferences pane that allow one to download iPhone 6.1 simulator, however I can't find a place where it allows downloading of iOS 6 SDK, thus it is not possible to set the active SDK to iOS 6 when developing with Xcode 5. Is there a workaround that would allow Xcode 5 to install iOS 6 SDK? EDIT: Workarounds should no longer be necessary now that Xcode 5 is generally available and allows you to download previous versions of the SDK. xcode ios6 xcode5 share|improve this question edited Oct 20 at 7:18 asked Aug 24 at 22:43 Tony 2,6163930

1   If you want a Base SDK of 6.1, use Xcode 4.6. Curious - why do you want to use a Base SDK of 6.1 with Xcode 5? –  rmaddy Aug 24 at 23:01 30   To take advantage of many improvements in Xcode 5, while still being able to build app for today's app store. –  Tony Aug 24 at 23:13 4   It's been some time since any version of Xcode had any SDKs other than the "latest". Beta versions have always just had the one version since the point of the beta is to test the beta. Since you can't submit apps using beta software, there is no point in trying to get the 6.1 SDK into Xcode 5. And in a few weeks, when it goes GA, you need to embrace iOS 7 anyway so there will be no point in a Base SDK of 6.1 with Xcode 5. –  rmaddy Aug 24 at 23:17 49   Hey maddy, the point about "embracing iOS 7 anyways" is totally not tied to the GA release. The decision and effort of redesigning an app's whole design language and UX to come in line with the flat design and re-designed iOS7 UI components is neither small, nor can come easily from a business & timing perspective. Building against SDK 6.1 will have iOS7 use the UI design language of iOS 6 and prior (for backwards support purposes). Thus it may be very well-warranted that we want to develop in Xcode 5 against the 6.1 SDK for some good time to come. –  Marchy Sep 11 at 18:34 4   Just in case, I'm surprised that the Apple's folks missed what really looks like a bug... Is there a reason why iOS version prior to iOS7 were removed ? –  Alex Sep 23 at 4:29 show 1 more comment

13 Answers

active oldest votes

up vote 124 down vote accepted

Yes, this is fine. I still build with iOS 4.3 for one project (it's been awhile since we updated; but they still accepted it after iOS 6 came out), and I currently build 10.5 apps with Xcode 5. See How to point Xcode to my 10.6 SDK so it can be used as a "Base SDK"? for details on how to set it up. You can use my fix-xcode script to link everything for you every time you upgrade. The only trick is getting the old SDKs. If you don't have them, you generally need to download old versions of Xcode (still available on developer.apple.com), open the installer package, and hunt around to find the SDK you need. SDKs can be found within the installer package at: Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Platforms/ share|improve this answer edited Oct 9 at 12:04 Bendegúz 16319 answered Aug 25 at 0:00 Rob Napier 77.6k890132

2   Wow, this is insanely awesome. EXACTLY what I'm looking for. Had I known this works I would have adopted Xcode 5 months ago! Better late than never, thanks a ton Rob. +10. –  Tony Aug 26 at 7:09 do you need to remove the iOS 7 SDK when archiving to ensure that it builds with the iOS 6 SDK? –  ohwutup Sep 11 at 16:48 4   hi. this is close but not quite for me. the buttons look like iOS 6 but the view controller content still goes up behind the navigation bar when using a UINavigationController. any thoughts about how to get the iOS 6 behavior for that as well? –  matt bezark Sep 21 at 22:30 2   No; you'll only see this on the device. There is no iOS 6 compatibility mode in the iOS 7 simulator. If you want to see how it looks in the simulator, test on the iOS 6 simulator. –  Rob Napier Sep 22 at 22:51 1   As long as the iPad 1 is still supported you can always assume Apple will accept 5.X iOS. It can't be upgraded. –  ahwulf Oct 16 at 13:20 show 11 more comments

up vote 40 down vote

I was also running the same problem when I updated to xcode 5 it removed older sdk. But I taken the copy of older SDK from another computer and the same you can download from following link. http://www.4shared.com/zip/NlPgsxz6/iPhoneOS61sdk.html (www.4shared.com test account test@yopmail.com/test) There are 2 ways to work with. 1) Unzip and paste this folder to /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Platforms/iPhoneOS.platform/Developer/SDKs & restart the xcode. But this might again removed by Xcode if you update xcode. 2) Another way is Unzip and paste where you want and go to /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Platforms/iPhoneOS.platform/Developer/SDKs and create a symbolic link here, so that the SDK will remain same even if you update the Xcode. Another change I made, Build Setting > Architectures > standard (not 64) so list all the versions of Deployment Target No need to download the zip if you only wanted to change the deployment target. Here are some screenshots. share|improve this answer edited Sep 29 at 13:13 answered Sep 19 at 18:44 AvtarSingh Suchariya 972618

2   how and where did you download this ios6.1 sdk? I am looking for iOS 5 sdk to run against my Xcode 5. Can you either upload that or point in me where I can download it myself. Thank you –  Sam Budda Sep 19 at 20:36 Actually, I am having the old system also. so I taken this from older xcode. The same I tried for ios sdk 5 but as not much needed I not tried to get that out from. Also, if this answer seems good, I value your feedback in terms of + or -. Thank you. –  AvtarSingh Suchariya Sep 19 at 20:55 1   Hey Avtar, I downloaded your ios6 zip, unzipped it under the location path that you had listed, closed xcode 5 completely, relaunched it again and yet I still see only 7.0 as deployable target in drop down option. I assuming there are missing steps and there is more to it? –  Sam Budda Sep 19 at 20:58 The same is working for me. Just a question, did you added this into xcode app itself or created a symbolic link ? –  AvtarSingh Suchariya Sep 19 at 21:01 directly to app dir itself. –  Sam Budda Sep 19 at 21:02 show 4 more comments

up vote 22 down vote	Yes, I just solved the problem today. Find the SDK file, like iPhoneOS6.1.sdk, in your or your friend's older Xcode directory. Copy & put it into the Xcode 5 directory : /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Platforms/iPhoneOS.platform/Developer/SDKs. Then you can choose the SDK like below : Hope this helps you. share|improve this answer answered Sep 22 at 12:13 Jason Lee 915316
	2   I did same but my GUI of app changes and it looks like iOS 7 GUI. I have choose iPhone Retina(4 inch 64-bit) simulator to run app. I am missing anything else after doing this. –  python Sep 24 at 12:56 Thanks Jason, I did the steps that you comment and I can solved this issue. Thanks again! –  Camacho Oct 11 at 10:43

up vote 9 down vote

You can download the older SDK and install it in Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Platforms/iPhoneOS.platform/Developer/SDKs/ folder. Logout + Login just to make sure the changes take effect and you should see the older SDK in your new XCode share|improve this answer answered Sep 17 at 19:28 unspokenblabber 36818

I've done this (using download link in an earlier answer), and the iOS 6.1 sdk choice does show up in xcode 5 under Build Settings > Architectures > Base SDK. However, when I build and run on iOS 7 simulator (or iOS 7 device) it's still using iOS 7 UIKit buttons (not iOS 6 versions). If anyone has any suggestions as to why, I'd be grateful.... –  Bill Patterson Sep 19 at 21:48 Update: turns out that does work for my physical device. I did not obtain the iOS 6.1 simulator SDK's, and I assume this is why the simulator is still showing 7.0 UIKit controls, even though the project I ran has setting of "iOS 6.1" for Base SDK. Presumably if I obtained the 6.1 simulator SDK's and put them in the appropriate .../Developer/SDK/ folder this would solve my problem. But just running the simulator as "device has iOS 6.1 installed" accomplishes the same result for me so not worth the bother. –  Bill Patterson Sep 19 at 21:58 If you have TimeMachine installed you can open the above path (in terminal type:open "/Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Platforms/iPhoneOS.platform/Develope‌ ​r/SDKs/" ) and restore the iOS6.1 SDK from there. –  juggleware Oct 18 at 19:30

up vote 9 down vote

Find and download old SDK. Older SDKs are found here. I have copied the xcode.app directory as Xcode_4.6.3.app. Now you can test and debug in both xcode versions. You have to run them from the corresponding folders or create shortcuts in your desktop. When building from command line give the parameter as iPhoneOS6.1 instead of iPhoneOS7.0 This worked great for me in Xcode5 and iOS. Go to into Xcode5's SDK dir. Its usually located at: /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Platforms/iPhoneOS.platform/Developer/SDKs Add a symbolic link to the old SDK like this: sudo ln -s /Applications/Xcode_4.6.3.app/Contents/Developer/Platforms/iPhoneOS.platform/Developer/SDKs/iPhoneOS6.1.sdk iPhoneOS6.1.sdk share|improve this answer edited Oct 22 at 20:31 Kevin Panko 3,57232137 answered Sep 23 at 11:22 karim 3,64021839

up vote 8 down vote

Download Xcode 4.6.x from the Apple Dev Center: https://developer.apple.com/downloads/index.action Create a folder called Xcode4 within the Applications folder and drag-n-drop the downloaded dmg there. Open a terminal window $sudo cp -R /Applications/Xcode4/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Platforms/iPhoneOS.platform/Developer/SDKs/iPhoneOS6.1.sdk /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Platforms/iPhoneOS.platform/Developer/SDKs/ You will be prompt to enter a password since you're inside a system folder Open Xcode 5 and you should now see both SDKs share|improve this answer answered Sep 25 at 16:24 autremoi 17113

(You can also copy the iOS6 SDK from the Xcode .dmg virtual disk image) sudo cp -R /Volumes/Xcode/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Platforms/iPhoneOS.platform/Develope‌ ​r/SDKs/iPhoneOS6.1.sdk/ /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Platforms/iPhoneOS.platform/Developer‌ ​/SDKs/iPhoneOS6.1.sdk –  David Oct 2 at 13:50

up vote 7 down vote

Can do this, But not really necessary How to do this Jason Lee got the answer. When installing xCode I preferred keeping previous installations rather than replacing them. So I have these in my installation Folder So /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Platforms/iPhoneOS.platform/Developer/SDKs Contain different sdks. (Replace Xcode.app with correct number) copy previous sdks to /Applications/Xcode 3.app/Contents/Developer/Platforms/iPhoneOS.platform/Developer/SDKs Here is my folder after I copied one. Now restart xCode and you can set previous versions of sdks as base sdk. Why it is not necessary Refering Apple Documentaion To use a particular SDK for an Xcode project, make two selections in your project’s build settings. Choose a deployment target. This identifies the earliest OS version on which your software can run. Choose a base SDK Your software can use features available in OS versions up to and including the one corresponding to the base SDK. By default , Xcode sets this to the newest OS supported by Xcode. Rule is Use latest as base SDK and set deployment target to the minimum version app supposed to run For example you can use iOS 7 as base sdk and set iOS 6 as deployment target. Run on iOS 6 simulator to test how it works on iOS 6. Install simulator if not available with list of simulators. Additionaly You can unconditionally use features upto iOS 6. And Conditionally you can support new features of iOS 7 for new updated devices while supporting previous versions. This can be done using Weakly Linked Classes ,Weakly Linked Methods, Functions, and Symbols https://developer.apple.com/library/ios/documentation/developertools/conceptual/cross_development/Using/using.html#//apple_ref/doc/uid/20002000-SW3 Weak Linking Suppose in Xcode you set the deployment target (minimum required version) to iOS6 and the target SDK (maximum allowed version) to iOS7. During compilation, the compiler would weakly link any interfaces that were introduced in iOS7 while strongly linking earlier interfaces. This would allow your application to continue running on iOS6 but still take advantage of newer features when they are available. share|improve this answer edited Oct 2 at 9:13 answered Oct 2 at 7:12 MadNik 600311

up vote 7 down vote	Just to add, you can actually download old versions of the simulator with Xcode 5 itself - just go to preferences and you'll find them under Downloads: share|improve this answer answered Oct 14 at 17:09 Smikey 76911437
	This must have happened since xcode 5 came out of beta and is now a general release. Good to know, thanks Smikey –  Tony Oct 15 at 17:23 This is the best and simplest solution! –  Manni Oct 16 at 8:03 1   @Manni This is not the same as compiling against the old API. You are building using the new API for iOS 6. –  oligofren Oct 22 at 8:01

up vote 3 down vote

My app was transitioned to Xcode 5 seamlessly because it can still build with the original iOS Deployment Target that you set in the project (5.1 in my case). If the new SDK doesn't cause some insurmountable problem, then why not build using it? Surely there are many improvements under the hood. For example, I will much prefer to use Xcode 5 instead of Xcode 4.6.3. Why? I'll get a lot more battery life because the UI scrolling of text/code areas in Xcode 5 no longer chews up an entire CPU thread. share|improve this answer answered Sep 19 at 4:33 Steven Lu 6,09842683

Reasons not to - Xcode 5 is pretty unstable at the moment. Crashing hourly for me. Also some weird positional issues and colour issues in some views (though not lots of work to fix) –  Nick H247 Sep 20 at 15:56 Ah interesting. Good thing I have both 4.6.3 and 5 installed and ready to go! My point still stands -- if you don't have a showstopper (occasional crashes, though frustrating, are not so horrible since Xcode does remember state for you so all you lose is e.g. undo history) there arent too many reasons to require the "legacy" SDK. –  Steven Lu Sep 20 at 17:54

up vote 2 down vote

The other answers here are correct too, but I find the following steps to be the easiest: Just download Xcode 4.6.3 from the dev center link that says "Looking for an older version of Xcode?" (currently points here) and mount the dmg. Then in terminal, copy the SDK files over: cp -R /Volumes/Xcode/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Platforms/iPhoneOS.platform/Developer/SDKs/iPhoneOS6.1.sdk /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Platforms/iPhoneOS.platform/Developer/SDKs/ Finally, relaunch Xcode and you're done. share|improve this answer answered Oct 1 at 4:12 nioq 1,627910

up vote 2 down vote

Linking the 6.1 SDK into Xcode 5 as described in the other answers is one step. However this still doesn't solve the problem that running on iOS 7 new UI elements are taken, view controllers are made full-size etc. As described in this answer it is also required to switch the UI into legacy mode on iOS 7: [[NSUserDefaults standardUserDefaults] setBool:YES forKey:@"UIUseLegacyUI"]; [[NSUserDefaults standardUserDefaults] synchronize]; Beware: This is an undocumented key and not recommended for App Store builds! Also, in my experience while testing on the device I found that it only works the second time I launch the app even though I'm running the code fairly early in the app launch, in +[AppDelegate initialize]. Also there are subtle differences to a version built using Xcode 4.6. For instance, transparent navigation bars behave differently (causing the view to be full-size). However, since Xcode 4.6.3 crashes on Mavericks (at least for me, see rdar://15318883), this is at least a solution to continue using Xcode 5 for debugging. share|improve this answer answered Oct 28 at 16:16 Ortwin Gentz 12.1k95285

up vote 1 down vote	I downloaded XCode 4 and took iOS 6.1 SDK from it to the XCode 5 as described in other answers. Then I also installed iOS 6.1 Simulator (it was available in preferences). I also switched Base SDK to iOS 6.1 in project settings. After all these manipulations the project with 6.1 base sdk runs in comp ability mode in iOS 7 Simulator. share|improve this answer answered Sep 25 at 10:07 OneSman7 111

up vote 1 down vote

Just for me the easiest solution: Locate an older SDK like for example "iPhoneOS6.1 sdk" in an older version of xcode for example. If you haven't, you can downlad it from Apple Developer server at this address: https://developer.apple.com/downloads/index.action?name=Xcode When you open the xcode.dmg you can find it by opening the Xcode.app (right click and "show contents") and go to Contents/Developer/Platforms/iPhoneOS.platform/Developer/SDKs/iPhoneOS6.1 sdk Simple Copy the folder iPhoneOS6.X sdk and paste it in your xcode.app right click on your xcode.app in Applications folder. Go to Contents/Developer/Platforms/iPhoneOS.platform/Developer/SDKs/ Just paste here. Close your xcode app and re-open it again. To test an app in iOS 6 on your simulator: - Just choose iOS 6.0 in your active sheme. To build your app in iOS 6, so the design of your app will be the older design on an iPhone with iOS 7 also: - Choose iOS6.1 in Targets - Base SDK Just note : When you change the base SDK in your Targets, iOS 7.0 won't be available anymore for building on the simulator ! share|improve this answer